Author: Leston Chandler Buell

As a teacher of Arabic, I am sometimes asked what the best way is to start learning the language. In this article I’ll give some tips and things to consider. What kind of Arabic? The language normally used in newspapers, books, and scripted material is usually known as Modern Standard Arabic, abbreviated as MSA. MSA …

Bite-Size Arabic: Learn to Read and Write Arabic Using the Tiniest Bit of Vocabulary and Grammar by Leston Chandler Buell (that is, by me, Dr. Bulbul) is a new textbook designed for both classroom use and independent learners. The book’s companion website has a (hidden) page for teachers where you can also download sample pages. …

Though she died in 1975, Umm Kulthum is undisputably the Arab world’s most renowned and beloved singer. If you would like to learn more about this Egyptian icon, take a look at this Wikipedia page. (If you have some Arabic reading skills, you could also look at her page on the Arabic Wikipedia page.) There …

Bite-Size Arabic: Learn to Read and Write Arabic Using the Tiniest Bit of Vocabulary and Grammar by Leston Chandler Buell (that is, by me, Dr. Bulbul) is a new textbook designed for both classroom use and independent learners. It teaches the reading and writing system of Standard Arabic, along with a smidgen of vocabulary and …

Two introductory textbooks for the Arabic writing system—Alif Baa and Bite-Size Arabic—teach the alphabet gradually, introducing just a few letters per unit. If the teacher covers just one unit per class meeting using these books, we are left with the problem of how to teach communication skills with the remaining classroom time before students have …

In this review I will give my perspective on Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds (ألف باء: مدخل إلى حروف العربية وأصواتها), a popular textbook by Kristen Brustad, Mahmoud Al-Batal, and Abbas Al-Tonsi. The book comes with a CD full of audio material. Access to a companion website with video material can be …

The following is the overall syllabus for UvA Talen Arabic 4, January–March 2018. I will use this syllabus not only to lay out our plan, but also to document what we did and indicate the homework. A couple of useful links: Mastering Arabic official resources. Searcheable PDF of the Hans Wehr Dictionary Lesson Material Covered …

In this article we will take a short look at the main moods of the Standard Arabic verb: indicative, subjunctive, jussive, and imperative. We won’t go into excessive detail, just the contexts that beginning and intermediate learners of Arabic are likely to encounter. This is also the reason we won’t discuss the short and long …

Duolingo is a wildly popular website and app for learning foreign foreign languages. English-speakers are currently able to learn over 25 languages on the platform, ranging from the tried-and-true French and Spanish to the more adventurous Ukrainian, Swahili, Vietnamese, and Esperanto. Spanish-speakers can even take a stab at Catalan or Guaraní. Although there has been …

The following is the overall syllabus for UvA Talen Arabic 3, January–March 2018. The syllabus will be updated gradually with more details as the course progresses. A couple of useful links: Audio vocabulary flashcards on Memrise. Mastering Arabic official resources. Searcheable PDF of the Hans Wehr Dictionary. Lesson Material Covered Lesson 1 22/1 During class: …